Memphis Barbecue Map

Smoked Out Bar-B-Que

2010-05-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

The building where Smoked Out Bar-B-Que (official name, Smoked Out Championship Bar-B-Que and Deli) lives has been at least three different barbecue places over the years. Tango & Murfs, and Wild Wes's both occupied the space before Smoked Out moved in, which might make it bad luck for a barbecue place (Tango & Murf's wasn't great, but Wild Wes's was actually pretty good).

The owner had previously set up shop using a trailer-type barbecue rig outside the convenience store down the road, and while I never stopped to visit (bad barbecue exploring, I know), I did notice that they did a pretty brisk business from their outdoor location--moving into a restaurant space allows them to have a pretty varied menu, with tamales, po boy sandwiches, catfish, and assorted bar appetizers, including Barbecue Bologna Sliders.

The standard of comparison isn't a barbecue bologna slider, however (I might give it a try, though, just to say I did before I leave), it's the sandwich, which is a little on the small side compared to some of the "regular" sandwiches in town. Compare it to the onion ring in the photo for an idea: I suggest ordering the large sandwich if you're looking for more than a snack. It is powerfully smoky, however--there's no noticable trace of pink in the meat to give away a slow smoking process, so there's the possibility that there's a heavy dose of liquid smoke in the sauce. The bun shows signs of being toasted, but is still room-temperature, and the slaw appears to be made in-house--all in all, it's a pretty good sandwich, but the smoked flavor can be a little overwhelming compared to some others.

After I was done with my sandwich, the owner walked out of the kitchen with a sample of ribs for me to try--three bones, half dry, half wet. He explained that since he had just opened (there's not an urbanspoon listing for this place yet, but there should be, soon) he liked to give folks a sample of things they didn't try as a reason to come back. Bear in mind that these were free samples, and that the owner may have cherry-picked them to show off his best material, but the ribs were excellent. Meaty, moist, they came off the bone easily, but were still firm to chew on--the dry rub had a little cayenne pepper kick to it (I'm not a huge fan of dry ribs), and the wet ribs were very tasty.

The stretch of Austin Peay (don't let the Covington Pike address fool you--it's on Austin Peay) where Smoked Out lies is a bit of a culinary wasteland, and residents of the area really should give it their patronage, as it's a wonderful, friendly neighborhood place, and deserves success.

Smoked Out Championship Bar-B-Que and Deli
4731 Covington Pike
Memphis, TN 38135
Phone: 901-791-2277
Fax: 901-791-2274

Heading out (soonish)

2010-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed a little write up on either The Commercial Appeal's or The Memphis Flyer's food blogs regarding my imminent departure to a more central part of the state. As such, I'd like to leave this map/blog in the hands of someone with a more vested interest in keeping things accurate (with respect to what's still around) and interesting (opinions vary, and Memphis is full of opinions on barbecue, but discussion's always good).

The nature of internet things means that I could leave open this up to several folks, and have five or six people contributing opinions and keeping an eye on the map--that would really be my ideal solution, really--while my own opinion on barbecue is clearly the right one, perhaps differing viewpoints would give readers a better chance of deciding whether a place was right for them if their tastes didn't match mine exactly.

Which is to say, if you'd like to contribute here, and try your hand at barbecue cartography, it would certainly be my fondest wish that the barbecue map outlive my brief but delicious tenure in Memphis. Drop me a comment, or send an email to randal dot cooper at the gmail thing.

Barb A Rosa's Real Pit Bar BQ‎

2010-05-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Barb A Rosa's has been in the queue (no pun intended) for a while now--I visited it last August and just now got around to unloading the pictures from my phone.

North of Memphis lies the sleepy military town of Millington--home of a naval base so located because (I guess) the powers that be at the Pentagon figured that the Commies would NEVER think of finding a naval base 400 miles from the nearest ocean. It's a clever move, although the ships look pretty sad sitting there in the parking lot.

I'm not here to talk about the naval base, though, I'm here to talk about barbecue. And Millington has a pretty good barbecue place in Barb A Rosa's, which is a little irritating to write because of all the capital letters and punctuation. Then again, half the barbecue places in town use some sort of weird spelling or funny name, so I shouldn't complain.

The sandwich is okay--the meat doesn't have a discernible smokiness, but the sauce isn't cloyingly sweet, and the sides (with the exception of the kinda soggy fries) are nice, and the bun is toasted. Order at the counter, and after a bit they'll call out your number so you can go get it, and in the meantime you can amuse yourself by watching The Dukes of Hazzard on their big screen TV. While we were there, there were some oil barons (in cahoots with Boss Hogg) involved in a land grab that also involved kidnapping Uncle Jesse, and could only be resolved by jumping automobiles over some empty gulches and firing explosive arrows.

If all our problems could be solved by jumping automobiles over empty gulches and firing explosive arrows, the world wouldn't be a better place, but it would certainly be a more entertaining one.

7822 US Highway 51 N
Millington, TN 38053-2269
(901) 872-4030‎

2010-04-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

The proprietor (let's call him "Sam") of Sam's Down South Barbecue and Hot Wings knew me as a stranger the moment I drove up and took a picture of the exterior. I guess he doesn't get many folks hopping out of their cars and whipping out phones, so I explained that I kept a map of all the barbecue restaurants in Memphis. Which immediately got me labelled as a "reviewer," and treated to samples of lots of different things. Getting treated to samples of lots of different things is nice, but weighs on the objectivity a bit, so keep that in mind.

Sam apparently cooks meat all day long on a smoker-grill that he keeps out in front of his establisment, enjoying the nice weather, and whipping together ribs and brisket and pork shoulder to be re-heated later--a necessity given that he's a one-man operation and he doesn't get much traffic in the location. We chatted for a bit, and he tried to get me to order the rib tips. When I told him they weren't good for my diet (which is true) and that I'd just have a shoulder sandwich (because that's what I'm comparing from restaurant to restaurant), he suggested that perhaps a brisket sandwich would be a better choice. I stuck to my guns, though, and he pulled out a couple of solid hunks of pre-cooked pork shoulder and set them on the indoor grill in the kitchen to reheat.

Then he escorted me outside, and pulled a piece off of the brisket he had cooking on the grill to try (he made a note of saying he was cooking with wood, not charcoal or gas, and that's apparent in the meat). The brisket was delicious and fall-apart tender, with a consistency like a good pot roast, minus the aromatic vegetables. It wasn't particularly smoky, however, but it WOULD make for a nice sandwich.

We went inside, and he offered me a sample of a rib tip, which was charred on the outside, and similarly tender and succulent. We talked a bit about rib tips in town and when I said that my go-to for them was Cozy Corner, he bragged about his being better than theirs. I'm still a fan of Cozy Corner's hot sauce, but Sam makes a pretty good case for himself, considering I found myself sucking on what was left of the tip after I'd pulled the meat from the outside.

Finally, the sandwich, which I took with me, because eating with someone expectantly watching you is weird. It was a pretty stout sandwich (for a "regular" size), and I don't know how much of that comes from his knowing I'd write about it or how much is just how he does things, but it was full to overflowing with smoky, meat, pink and charred and very good. The sauce was a little sweeter than I normally like, but it had some heat to it, and the slaw seemed to have been homemade, and had a nice bitterness and crunch to it. It may not have been the best sandwich in town, but it was an excellent sandwich. If you're in the neighborhood, and Down South is open, definitely give it a try.

p.s. I snagged a menu that I'll photograph and upload to UrbanSpoon so you can get an idea of what they serve. It seems to be a one-man show, so illness or exceptionally nice weather might cause problems, so perhaps a pre-visit phone call would be a good idea.

Down South BBQ & Hot Wing
902 East Raines Road
Memphis, TN 38116-6303
(901) 398-1108

For the traveller: The Shed--Mobile AL (and Ocean Springs, MS)

2010-04-03T16:21:00.001-07:00

I spent a couple of days in Mobile visiting family, and they suggested we do dinner at The Shed, the fashioned barbecue shack from Ocean Springs which has recently opened a location in Mobile next to the University of South Alabama.

I'm generally not a fan of places that go to great lengths to look ratty and old, especially when I know that they're BRAND SPANKIN' NEW, but I understand the desire to give a place atmosphere. It's just odd to look at the license plates nailed to the wall, as if the restaurant had been collecting license plates for years, to notice that many of them are in sequential order, like leftovers from a license plate switchover. I'm willing to overlook these attempts, however, if the food's good--and at the shed, it's pretty good.

The sandwich comes in 1/4 lb and 1/2 lb varieties--with pulled pork, no slaw as the standard (slaw's an extra seventy-five cents). Both are served on the same bun, so I think they probably fudge a bit on the meat for the 1/4 lb version, and it's probably ample for all but the heartiest appetites. The 1/2 lb version is pictured here, incidentally.

The meat is tender, a little smoky, with sections of deeply flavored exterior included. It's not heavily sauced, and the sauce is fairly sweet, but not cloyingly so. Ribs are also served, and I'd wager that they're similarly good. Weekend nights feature a blues or roots band, and draft and bottled beers are available--so if you're passing through Mobile or Ocean Springs (or taking in some casino time in Biloxi), it's definitely worth a barbecue stop. There's not much else in that part of the Gulf Coast to compare for getting a decent barbecue fix (although I've heard good things about Brick Pit, just down the street).

The Shed
5753 Old Shell Rd
Mobile, AL 36608
251-342-SHED

7501 Highway 57

Ocean Springs, MS 39565-8405

(228) 875-9590

Big Bill's Barbecue

2010-03-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know if Big Bill has opened a second location on Elvis Presley, or is moving his shop down from Raleigh, but it's a welcome addition to a neighborhood that has a half dozen Chinese buffets and one barbecue restaurant where you can go for lunch (Arnold's--down the road. Marlowe's is only open for lunch during the summer, and even then they open too late for many lunch hours). They're located in the end of a strip mall that once housed a Gridiron restaurant (known for its pimeinto cheeseburgers), and they've held on to some of the pictures on the wall from that location, but removed the lunch counter seats which would have kept a neat retro feel. There are still a handful of tables, booths, and window seats, so you can watch the traffic on Elvis Presley go by while you have your sandwich or rip tips.

The hot sandwich was both spicy, smoky, and fairly heavily sauced--like the original, it's reminiscent of A&R (the families are related), but the year or so between my visits has make the two sandwiches somewhat more distinct. Like, A&R, it's sloppy, so it's definitely not for eating while in motion, but pretty good for eating either in the restaurant or taking home. When I visited, it was their opening weekend, and it took almost a half hour between walking in the door and getting my food. Hopefully they'll be able to provide better service once the excitement of a new place dies down.

4101 Elvis Presley Blvd

Memphis, TN 38116
901-552-4502

Arlington Barbeque Company

2010-02-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Since I had a few hours free, I stopped by Arlington Barbeque Co early this evening to give their sandwich a try. The jumbo (pictured) was a monster of a sandwich, filled with lightly smoky, pulled pork, slaw that was a little too watery (water from the cabbage can get into the dressing) and soaked the bun, and a little light on the sauce for my taste (but probably spot on for others--it's easier to add it than to take it off, of course).

The baked beans had a heavy dose of garlic added to them--so much so that I mentioned it to the waitress, who asked the cook if she'd added garlic to the beans (yes), and I had to clarify that they were tasty, but you don't normally expect such a healthy dose of it in a side dish.

The total bill came up to over $11, which is a bit steep for a sandwich and a coke, but there WAS enough sandwich there to be two sandwiches elsewhere. Beer is available, and they have ribs and barbecued potato skins, which sounded tasty but weren't what I'd come out for. Definitely worth a visit, and different enough to be worth the drive to see if maybe it could be your favorite place.

Arlington Barbeque Company

11875 Highway 70

Arlington, TN 38002-5364

(901) 867-2250

Captain John's Barbecue

2010-01-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I ought to give apologies for the lack of posting, but between dieting and having hit a good portion of the places on the map posts will naturally be appearing less frequently. I DO have two posts in the queue, this one and one on Bar-Ba-Rosa's in Millington, which I'll post when I finally figure out where I put the pictures (but the short version is that it's okay).

Captain John's Barbecue is located close to the roller skating rink in Collierville, where the Memphis Roller Derby will be practicing and competing if they don't find somewhere that isn't as inconvenient is humanly possible to relocate to in the interim. As barbecue places go, it's not bad--think Tops with an extra $2 surcharge. Clearly, one could just go to Tops, save the $2 and the gas, but if, say, you were to be out practicing or competing with roller derby, you could do a lot worse. Then again, the food at the roller rink might be FANTASTIC. Although I doubt it.

Should anyone reading this be unfamiliar with Tops, it's the baseline for quality barbecue in Memphis. A good, solid, satisfying sandwich, but nothing that's gonna make you pound the table in ecstasy, unless you're coming off some sort of fast. Captain John's meets those qualifications--slight smokiness, well assembled, unremarkable sides. Better than you'll find in other parts of the country, definitely, but pretty much run-of-the-mill for Memphis. Not worth a special trip, but if you live in Collierville or are visiting for some reason, definitely someplace that should be in your available options.

Captain John's Barbecue

106 US Highway 72 East
Collierville, TN 38017-2994
(901) 853-8004

http://www.captainjohnsbbq.com/

Boss Hogg Barbecue

2009-06-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

(Phone problems prevent me from uploading a picture at the moment, so imagine a sandwich here.)

How does one make an entry about a boring lunch interesting to read?

I thought today would be a good day to add some more information to the map, and I remembered that there was a barbecue place in Southaven that I hadn't tried yet. Boss Hogg is located in a strip mall on the north side of Goodman Road. with signs on the windows advertising that they'd been voted #1 Barbecue (according to their website, they've been voted the "Best Barbecue in Southaven" three years running).

This has, in my experience, always been a bad sign to see in a window.

The restaurant was fairly crowded--I ordered at the register, but it looked as if table service was available, based on folks paying afterward. The sandwich was unremarkable--the pork had no noticeable smokiness (I would have thought it roasted had I not noticed a tiny bit of pink, charred meat that fell onto my plate), the slaw added nothing in terms of flavor or texture. And the sandwich could have benefited from some additional texture--while the meat was fall-apart tender, it also had the mushiness that comes from being "white meat," or "inside meat," or whatever is ordinary. Fries were similarly plain. It looked as if the beans had been gussied up somewhat, but I would be hard-pressed to distinguish them from the beans at, say, Tops in a blind tasting.

All in all, a singularly plain experience, certainly not worth a special trip and probably worth a pass unless you're starving for barbecue immediately. Mind you, it's not bad at all, but there are three more interesting barbecue restaurants in Southaven alone much less all of the greater Memphis area.

1092 Goodman Rd E
Southaven, MS 38671
(662) 349-6573
http://bosshogbarbq.com/

Bynum's Barbecue: OPEN! Just not always.

2009-05-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

I had an errand to run in Midtown at lunch today, and driving up Airways I noticed that, unlike the past ten times I'd driven past, the "OPEN" light was on in the window of Bynum's Barbecue. I took that as a sign from the Barbecue Gods that it was time for a visit on the way back to work.

You park in a fenced-in, potholed lot in the back of the restaurant and enter through a windowless door, which leads to another locked door. The signs were looking good already. The proprietor (Anthony Terrell this afternoon, not Claude Bynum) let me in, and explained that they'd had some staffing problems and were closed on Mondays (a normal restaurant closing day) and Tuesdays, when he catered lunches for the Kellogg's cereal plant just down the road--so it had just been bad luck that I hadn't seen a light on in the place for the past several months. I ordered a small hot sandwich with a side of potato salad and lemonade, so I'm writing this on a starch and sugar high.

Terrell and I made some small talk about their barbecued and deep-fried turkeys that had been featured in the Commercial Appeal last Thanksgiving as he assembled the sandwich--I noted the distinct sound of a microwave--I'm not sure precisely whether a bun was being warmed from being stored in the cooler, or if the barbecue gets reheated in it. It's cooked in a pit on the back wall, however, and was larger than what I expected to find in a "small" sandwich.

The meat has just a little little smokiness, but is fairly tender, and has the distinct flavor (in the sections from the outer part of the shoulder) of having been exposed to a little more direct heat than you normally find around town. The sauce is thin, vinegary, and not exceptionally hot--I'm not certain if the mild sauce might have been sweeter and less vinegar-based. Cole slaw and potato salad were both made there; the slaw didn't contribute much in terms of flavor, but the potato salad was excellent. All in all, a very good sandwich, but I expect that the ribs and other items that can hold up to more direct heat are probably finer examples of Bynum's art--that little bit of crust ("bark" in barbecue parlance, although if I wanted to eat bark I would have been born a beaver) and the thin sauce would are a delicious combination in my head.

Speaking of art, there's a website called Bad Paintings of Barack Obama, where various homegrown artwork dedicated to our 44th President can be found--if you'd like to see an actual real-life bad painting of Barack Obama, there's one on the wall at Bynum's (also on my Flickr page). I should note here that "bad" is a subjective term--it's actually a quite good folk-art representation of the Commander-in-Chief.

Bynum's Barbecue
1404 Airways Blvd
Memphis, TN 38114
(901) 323-8227‎

The psycology and subjectivity of barbecue.

2009-05-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

There's the traditional "Here Comes Barbecue Contest Weekend" debate going on over at The Commercial Appeal's Whining & Dining blog--but there's a particular note about Memphis being represented by Leonard's in a list of the best barbecue in the nation by one Paul Kirk, the self-appointed "KC Baron of Barbecue." I thought I'd take a moment to make some notes and help you understand where my tastes run, so you can compare and contrast your own.

Barbecue is a quintessential comfort food--it's borne out of poverty, generally using the cheapest cuts of the most available animal and cooking it in a method that would make otherwise inedible (too much gristle, too many bones) parts of the pig or cow or sheep succulent and delicious. As such, your tastes will run to where you were raised, and a sample of barbecue that tastes like childhood will trigger an emotional response (several readers will be having Rattatouille flashbacks at this point. That film actually did an admirable job of conveying precisely the visceral reaction to comfort food, as prepared by vermin). If you were raised in Texas or Kansas City (as I presume Paul Kirk was), you are hard-wired to love brisket, which I generally like, but won't make a special trip to sample.

Good barbecue will transport you to your grandparents' backyard, sitting in a lawn chair with the rest of your family, watching a pit cooking on a warm summer night while people told stories, or to a family reunion having that certain variety of creamed corn that you can really only find at family reunions and church potlucks (although the corn pudding at The Cupboard comes close). I get the same reaction from a certain brand of sausage, or italian-style green beans cooked to death, or proper fried chicken. Done properly, it will trigger memories of when times were easier; because in theory the grown-ups took care of everything bad in life.

Naturally, this means that "Certified Barbecue Judges" and "Barbecue Judging Schools" are pure hokum, because they base their "objective" criteria about what makes good barbecue on one person's subjective set of memories--and that person probably died of coronary failure some time ago. Barbecue is good because it tastes good--because it takes the smoke from that backyard fire and the sweet & sour of pickle vinegar and a bottle of Kraft barbecue sauce, if that was the combination that did it for you and your family. A robot can cook barbecue to proper "judging" specifications, but only a precious few of us were raised by a family of barbecue-cooking robots--for the rest of us, it's ribs over charcoal, or brisket over mesquite, or saffron-infused coffee-glazed shoulder, if your family didn't get the memo--BUT THAT'S STILL RIGHT FOR YOU.

For me, there will be wood smoke--hickory, pecan, oak--because that's what grew in my grandparents' back yard. The sauce will likely be doctored supermarket sauce, and there's a good chance that some of the tougher cuts of meat will have been braised after their initial searing. Translating that into a sandwich, I look for something that's a little (but not overwhelmingly) smoky, with a bit of sweet and a lot of sour to the sauce. Since I wasn't raised in Memphis, slaw on the sandwich has been an acquired taste, but in most places around town it's a necessity to balance out either the sweetness or the hotness (or, on some less-auspicious occasions, the blandness) of the remaining components. I try to compensate in my descriptions to account for other tastes, 'cause we all got different mammas, but ultimately things are gonna trend toward the subjective.

Naturally, anyone's welcome to make their own judgements, and map, even--especially the folks who are shilling for their personal restaurants on the Commercial Appeal site. And Paul Kirk (as Calvin Trillin before him) can make his own special briskophilic selections over in Kansas City. And the Texans can rate their beef ribs as magnificent, and the North Carolinians can wax poetic about the virtues of hush puppies with theirs, and we'll all be right.

Arnold's Barbecue

2009-05-07T10:25:00.001-07:00

Since the neighbor- hood where I work isn't in the classiest part of town, a lot of the more "authentic" barbecue places use the collapsed commercial real-estate market to set up shop. Google Maps lists no fewer than four barbecue places within a ten-minute drive of my workplace that have appeared within the past six months. I thought today would be a good day to give Arnold's on Elvis Presley a try.

Arnold's may have been there for longer than the past six months, mind you--I rarely pass its location. Still, I doubt it's been there long, if only based on the fact that the ubiquitous television in the corner is a flatscreen model. It did seem pretty busy, however, so it's been there long enough to generate a clientele. And for good reason.

The sandwich at Arnold's is powerfully smoky; the meat's 75% pink from smoke exposure, but not dried out. It's chopped a little fine for my tastes--it looks like it would do well just being pulled, which would be a little less labor intensive. It's not doused in sauce, and looks to be assembled with some care. The slaw's made somewhere else, I'm pretty sure, and adds only a little to the sandwich. Still, a good-to-great lunch, depending on how your tastes run.

Ribs, rib tips, and burgers are all available on the menu. Definitely worth a visit.

Arnold's BBQ
4560 Elvis Presley Blvd
Memphis, TN 38116
(901) 345-5992

(If you check the map, you can see that Arnold's is yellow--if my tastes ran just a little differently, it would easily be green--the finely chopped meat and the Sysco slaw really are the only caveats.)

Scooter's Barbecue

2009-04-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

Scooter's Barbecue was once located at Poplar and Kirby, in the location that's presently occupied by Mosa, and which was formerly a KFC. They didn't last long in that location, though based on memories of my one visit years ago it wasn't due to lack of quality in the food as much as the fact that you couldn't see them from the road.

They've rectified the "seeing them from the road" problem in their new location in Southaven, by slapping their sign on a Greyhound bus that they keep parked out front. I assume that's for their catering business, and probably how they manage to get around any sign ordinances.

The food isn't as good as I remembered it--when I visited them in their old home, I'd had the rip tips, which were pretty good. The sandwich I had on this visit was overflowing with meat that had been nicely smoked, perhaps a little dry, but it was difficult to determine that because it was drenched in a cloyingly sweet sauce that pretty much overwhelmed anything else on the sandwich. The slaw and sides (potato salad and baked beans) were similarly unremarkable; they could have easily come straight outta Sysco.

All things being equal, it's probably worth checking out the ribs, chicken, or other items on the menu, or asking them to go easy on the sauce, because it looks like there's a decent sandwich hiding in there somewhere, but at the default settings it needs a little help to rank with some of the other places around town. That said, if you have no great love for Interstate (which has a location one exit up or down, depending on how you're coming) or Tops (same exit as Interstate, but closer to the highway), or if you're in the mood for ribs or chicken, Scooter's may be the way to go.

Scooter's Barbecue
7065 Airways Blvd
Southaven, MS
662-349-4920

Barbecue Factory

2009-03-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hey! Someplace new!

My visit the The Barbecue Factory was notable for the fact that they locked the door behind me, because they didn't have enough money in the register to make change. Fortunately, I had correct change available, but they'll have to work out those kinks if they're gonna be successful. Also, having to repeat my order (hot regular sandwich--not particularly complicated) four times could use work, but I understand the manager (I guess) was distracted by the lack of change. The place was clean, well-lit, but a little chaotic--don't know how long they've been open.

The sandwich itself was tender and flavorful, although not particularly smoky (there was a small bit of visible pink in the meat). The hot sauce was milder than several others in town, but had a bit of a bite to it. Their wall menu has ribs, rib tips, etc, which appear to be cooked in a cast iron pit behind the counter, but they didn't have a visible carry-out menu.

All in all, a well-done assembly of pork, slaw, and bread, but when you have to have someone come let you out, you have second thoughts about a second visit. I'll give it another go soon, however, hopefully they'll have the kinks worked out.

Barbecue Factory
3711 Lamar Ave
Memphis, TN 38118
(901) 797-8195

Closings!

2009-03-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

I haven't been to visit anything new in the past couple of months (lousy diet), but I wanted to update the map to indicate that Memphis Smokehouse on Stage has definitely closed, and Bynum's Barbecue on Airways (which I never got to visit) has been shuttered at lunchtime each time I've passed it in the past couple of weeks. Uncle Sam's Barbecue inside Rangemasters off of Kirby Whitten @ Summer (which was arguably the most entertaining barbecue in town) is listed as closed on its website, but mentions a catering business to be announced in the future.

The economy's taking its victims, although some of these are probably as much victims of poor location and poor marketing as a downturn in the stock market.

Barbecue was born out of poverty, taking the difficult cuts of the pig and--with the proper application of heat, time, smoke, and spice--turning it into something delicious. In theory, it ought to thrive during a recession, assuming you're not in the mood to charge $9 for a $3 sandwich.

In the hopes that better times might bring these places back (Dan's Barbecue on Austin Peay has re-opened as ~~something else I can't recall at the moment~~ Wild Wes'), I'm temporarily changing the colors for shuttered places to purple rather than immediately taking 'em off the map.

A&R Downtown

2009-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

Based on news from Paul Ryburn, I've gone ahead and added A&R Barbecue downtown, in the former Roma Pizza location. Rumor has it that they'll sell beer, but no news about fried pies (the location in Bartlett told me they didn't carry them there the last time I visited, some two years ago. Which is why my last visit was two years ago.)

Barbecue Feed.

2008-11-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I check out the map to see if I've had a sudden influx of new folks discover it, or if there's been another comment--today I discovered that my map entries now have an RSS feed (clicking that link will bring you to a page of goobledegook if you don't have any familiarity with RSS feeds, by the way. It's not broken). In theory, this means that you can subscribe to the feed, and when I add a new restaurant (probably) or new information about an old restaurant (possibly) you'll automatically get an item in your reader. I'll be running a couple of tests to see how it works, so if you subscribe to my map (which I encourage. Map subscribers = publicity = comments = better, more interesting map = book deal = groupies), you might get some strange items as I try things out.

Does anyone know how long the RSS feed has been available? Has it been there for eons, and I just missed it up until now?

Reese's Barbecue

2008-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

I probably ought to apologize; I don't get to update this as often as I'd like to simply because of the logistics of visiting every barbecue restaurant in Memphis. One of the difficult parts of this undertaking is that my fifteen-minute lunch radius is a finite area, and lots of barbecue places in Memphis are only open for lunch owing to unprofitable dinner crowds and less-than-savory neighborhoods.

Not so with Reese's barbecue, which is open until 9 most days (not Sunday), but is fortunately right on the edge of my lunch amoeba--areas accessible by interstate form the pseudopods. Now that I've put "amoeba" and "lunch" in the same sentence (TWICE!) and ruined appetites in the process, let's talk about Reese's.

Reese's boasted a pretty good crowd when I walked into it; a lot of construction workers, a couple of cops. I entered the building with a group of similarly-dressed guys, who ordered the same thing as I did, so the lady behind the counter assumed we were together--which (coupled with a security guard coming in to chit-chat for a few minutes) meant that we all got our food simultaneously, a little slower than I would have liked, but not terrible.

The sandwich isn't smoky; I presume the shoulder is roasted as there was no telltale pinkness in the meat and no noticeable smoke flavor. The sauce is both sweeter and spicier (for a mild sauce) than most. The slaw is ordinary, the bun toasted. All in all it's a good sandwich, but indistinguishable from lots of other good sandwiches in town. Beans looked to be cooked in-house and were tasty, fries were nothing special. The menu boasted a wide variety of other barbecue and non-barbecue options--plate lunches, burgers (which looked very good, incidentally), a variety of other sides. Worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood, or if it's somewhere within the perimeter of your lunch amoeba.

Reese's Bar-BQ
4606 Winchester Rd
Memphis, TN 38118
(901) 366-1497

Kelvin's Barbecue: Closed!

2008-10-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

From reader Mike comes the sad news that Kelvin's Barbecue and Wings on Austin Peay closed back in August. I hadn't visited that location, but the one location I had visited (on Winchester, now also closed) made a pretty good sandwich.

Don't know if the one at 2675 Frayser Blvd is still a going concern or not.

All my homies!

2008-09-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Or perhaps both of my homies! Or my single homie! Is "homie" still accepted common vernacular?

No matter! You can now follow the Memphis Barbecue Map blog, which I presume will drive traffic to your blogs, where you can in turn add a gadget to list your followers and so on in an endless set of interlinking circles. Since the internet became Ouroboros long ago, it's only a perfunctory matter to make it official, like having a ceremony for a marriage between a long-cohabitating couple.

Anyway--box on the right. If you're reading this on an RSS reader, come visit and list yourself.

Visit: Tastee Barbecue

2008-09-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Tastee [sic] Barbecue and had a pretty good sandwich for lunch. Solid, workmanlike. Worth a visit, and worth regular visits if you work in the neighborhood.

Barbecue sandwiches, burgers, plate lunches, and breakfast.

More detail here.

1028 E Brooks Rd
Memphis, TN 38116
(901) 332-3133

Visit: Buck's Smoking Pit

2008-08-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

I had an abbreviated lunch hour today, and decided to make the quick trip to Buck's Smoking Pit to give the sandwich a try. I was a little concerned about whether they were open as I saw a padlock on the door and the carry-out window--but the padlock was merely on the open hasp of the door.

The menu's painted over the order counter: I tried the large hot pork shoulder sandwich. The proprietor made a point of saying that they had beef as well, but I like to be consistent the first time I go into a place.

Needless to say, I should have taken his advice. The shoulder was undercooked, with pieces of chewy fat, and no discernible smokiness. The sandwich itself wasn't bad (after I'd taken the pure fat off), but the meat would have benefited greatly from some additional time on the pit.

Buck's has lots of other options available, as well: Beef ribs, pork ribs, rib tips, bologna, sausage, pig feet, pig tails (that's new to me), and a handful of non-barbecue items. I'll have to give it another visit to try something that's not a barbecue sandwich.

Buck's Smoking Pit

2008-08-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturdays when I've got to go into work I usually stop by the Memphis Farmer's Market since it's a little out of the way for a dedicated trip. Then I take some odd route through the city to get from there to work; the better for discovery. Today was down Mississippi Blvd, where I passed a place that hadn't popped up on any of the Google searches for "barbecue" or "restaurants" I'd done, and I might have needed verification to add anyway. In any case, Buck's Smoking Pit exists, is open for business, is on the map, and is going to be visited very soon, because it looks like it has the potential for greatness.

1293 Mississippi Blvd
Memphis, TN 38106
(901) 347-3127

Pollard's Barbecue

2008-08-08T10:41:00.001-07:00

Updated map information for Pollard's Barbecue.

Pollard's is little more than a barbecue take-out counter located in a strip mall. Two chairs sit against the wall for folks to wait for their food, and a menu is set on the wall behind the counter.

They make a solid sandwich, however. The meat lacks some smokiness of an A&R sandwich, but with that distinction, the two are virtually identical. Also like A&R, they have warm fried pies available. Being compared to A&R isn't necessarily a bad thing--unfortunately A&R is more convenient to most folks around town, given their multiple locations, and with smokiness and a slightly better pie has an edge in flavor, as well. Still, green is green on the map, and Pollard's is worth a visit if you're in the area.

The sandwich was a little pricey ($4.50 for a regular, in days of $5.00 footlong subs), compared to some other places, but it may just be ahead of the curve on keeping up with a general increase in food prices, and the unavailability of certain economies of scale.

4637 Boeingshire Dr
Memphis, TN 38116
(901) 398-2987

Fat Larry's Barbecue

2008-07-12T07:14:00.000-07:00

Visited Fat Larry's Barbecue in Bartlett, and added it to the map. Like most places, it's not bad, but not necessarily worth a special trip.

Most of the customers, from what I observed, were getting steak--I don't know if the menu (or the decor) has changed at all since it was named Stables--but I never visited Stables, so I don't have much in terms of comparison.

Comparison Data!

2008-07-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

Memphis is often listed as the Barbecue Capital of the world because of the prevalence of barbecue restaurants around town (and the map's a pretty good indication. By comparison, the greater New Orleans area might have a dozen or so barbecue restaurants total, although they have plenty of other great food).

But perhaps, secretly, we're also number one in another, less publicized category as well.

It's not as if folks actually read this, but IF you do, does anyone care to conjecture about why we have so many Chinese restaurants? That map was slapped together in no time, and is by no means accurate or comprehensive, but that's a lot of Chinese for a city without sizable Chinese community--at least in my opinion. And I left off other Asian ethnic cuisine, so there's no Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, or Korean on the map unless it had some crossover on the menu that I knew of (Pei Wei, for instance).

Old Timers--Millington

2008-06-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Added notes for Old Timers in Millington. Not bad, but expect a crowd if you eat before sundown.

Old Style Barbecue

2008-06-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

Added Old Style Barbecue in Olive Branch. I might visit someday, but that day may be years away. I'm sure it offers a stark contrast to the nouvelle barbecue that's all the rage these days.

Memphis Smokehouse

2008-05-28T20:42:00.001-07:00

Visited Memphis Smokehouse on Stage (in the location that formerly housed Yazoo's). Pretty good sandwich, they could probably eliminate some of the more Applebee's or Friday's style items from the menu and be more successful in the long run, and they deserve to be successful.

Howdy!

2008-05-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings to folks coming to visit from the Commericial Appeal. A link to the map is over there on the sidebar, or you can just click here to check it out. Feel free to comment either here or on the map itself; I'll try to keep the discussion as open as possible, but try to be civil just in case kids come to visit.

I guess it's better to achieve semi-fame through a combination of gluttony and nerdiness than, say, getting arrested in a prostitution sting or winning a Darwin award.

Bynum's and Memphis Smokehouse

2008-05-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Added Bynum's Barbecue on Airways and Memphis Smokehouse BBQ on Stage (in the former Yazoo's location). Memphis Smokehouse doesn't appear to be a chain, but based on the number of hits for Job Search googling the name provides, it looks like they have money and/or experience.

Tommy Leonard Barbecue

2008-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Visited Tommy Leonard Barbecue in Southaven, and added info to the map. Verdict--good, but the sandwich is a little overpriced. Maybe the ribs or catfish are a better deal.

More additions--Southhaven

2008-05-05T12:28:00.000-07:00

Added Tommy Leonard, JD's Barbq, and Boss Hogg Bar-BQ locations to the map. Will probably make a visit to them soon.

Also up for a visit in the area: Wiseguy's Chicago Pizza on highway 51 in Horn Lake. Just as a note.

Mission statement

2008-05-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

This blog is created primarily to document changes made to the Memphis Barbecue Map, as I visit and compose entries for various restaurants.

Uncle Sam's Barbecue

2008-05-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Added information about Uncle Sam's Barbecue to the map

Dan's Babecue

2008-04-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Added information about Dan's Barbecue to the map.